INDIANAPOLIS – Redshirt junior guard Leilani Kapinus and graduate guard Ashley Owusu both cracked double figures, but the Penn State women's basketball team's 2023-24 campaign ended with a 58-53 loss to the Villanova Wildcats in the semifinals of the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament Monday afternoon from Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The Lady Lions close the book on their winningest season since the 2013-14 team rattled off a 24-8 overall record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament regional semifinals. PSU's 2023-24 squad turned in a 22-13 finish with a 9-9 mark in Big Ten regular season action, winning its most postseason games in a single year since the 2003-04 team reached the Elite Eight with a trio of wins in the NCAA Tournament. With the win, Villanova improved to 22-12 and will face the winner of Illinois and Washington State's matchup in the WBIT Championship on Wednesday. In the all-time series between the Wildcats and Lady Lions, Villanova improves to 6-8 overall.
Penn State was effective in transition, outscoring Villanova by a 10-6 tally in fastbreak opportunities, also outpacing the Wildcats in second-chance points with an 8-5 differential in the statistic. PSU shot at a 36% rate from beyond the arc, holding their Philadelphia-based opponents to a meager 28% clip from long distance. PSU also called on its bench to provide consistent offense, outscoring the Wildcats off the pine by a 12-6 margin.
Individually, Kapinus put together another all-around effort, dropping an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double in PSU's final game of the season. Kapinus mustered her ninth career double-double and second such performance in the 2024 WBIT, joining her 13-point, 15-board outing against George Mason in Penn State's first-round victory. Owusu cracked double digits in the scoring column for the 19th time in her Lady Lion career and 92nd time overall, dropping 11 points and two rebounds in 23 minutes of work. Veteran guard Makenna Marisa closed the book on her illustrious Penn State career Monday, finishing with eight points, two rebounds and an assist in her final game wearing the Blue & White.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
Villanova opened the contest with a quick layup down low in the first four seconds, but back-to-back Lady Lion buckets from Pinto and Kapinus brought Penn State to an early 4-2 advantage. The Wildcats replied with the first 3-point bucket of the afternoon, but Kapinus earned a trip to the line and sank both of her attempts. PSU and Villanova exchanged baskets over the next few minutes, culminating in a 10-10 deadlock with around three minutes to go in the first. The Blue & White locked down defensively toward the middle portion of the frame, with the Lady Lions keeping the Wildcats off the board for four minutes spanning both sides of the media timeout before Villanova took a 12-10 advantage with a long two. Marisa snapped back with a deep triple to take a 13-12 lead, but a turnover and fastbreak layup from the Wildcats gave Villanova a 14-13 lead through the opening period.
Second Quarter
Ciezki opened the second period with physical play down low, drawing a foul and booking a pair of makes at the charity stripe to put PSU back in control. A defensive stop turned into another Ciezki scoring opportunity, with the sophomore guard drilling a pull-up jumper from the left elbow. Villanova replied with a 5-0 scoring run thanks to back-to-back jumpers, but a straight-away bank shot 3-pointer from Kapinus saw the lead change hands once more. Villanova found the bottom of the net with back-to-back layups, but a Ciezki layup kept it a one-point game. From that point, both offenses ran cold, with neither team able to muster a field goal over a five-minute span toward the end of the period. Owusu rattled in a pair of free throw makes to close out the scoring in the first half, with Villanova managing a 26-24 advantage.
Third Quarter
The Wildcats executed a baseline out-of-bounds mid-range jumper on their first extended possession of the second half and added a fastbreak layup the next time down the floor to take a 30-24 advantage. Owusu contributed a pair of free throw makes moments later, but Villanova connected on another layup to maintain its six-point edge. After two more minutes passed without incident, Owusu found the bottom of the net with a layup at the 5:47 mark. Baskets fell both ways over the ensuing moments, but a Wildcat triple made it a 37-30 game at the media break. Out of the brief intermission, Villanova closed the period out with consecutive layups and took a 10-point lead into the final 10 minutes of action, 43-33.
Fourth Quarter
Villanova opened the final frame with a mid-range jumper to take a 12-point advantage with nine and a half minutes to play, but a series of trips to the free throw line culminated in an 8-0 scoring run for the Blue & White. A dominant defensive rejection from Kapinus with a little more than five minutes to play extended the scoreless streak for the Wildcats, and Kapinus drilled a mid-range jumper to punctuate a 10-0 scoring run. Penn State's defense continued to dial up pressure, forcing Villanova into a five-minute stretch without a score. With just over four minutes to play, the Wildcats managed to find their rhythm offensively once again, connecting on a triple to make it a five-point game. Villanova tacked on three more points at the stripe to close out a 6-0 run, but Oden kept PSU close with a jumper from the left corner and Kapinus booked a steal and score to make it a four-point deficit. Owusu hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two, and both teams traded scores down the stretch, but Villanova was ultimately able to pull away and take Monday's semifinal by a 58-53 margin.
POSTGAME NOTES
Penn State
Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament | Semifinals
April 1, 2024
Hinkle Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Ind.)
- Penn State concluded its 2023-24 campaign with its best win total since th 2013-14 season, while making it first postseason run since 2018.
- Leilani Kapinus registered her fifth double-double of the season and second of the tournament with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
- Grace Hall produced a career high matching four blocks.
- The Lady Lions forced 19 turnovers on defense, a season high for Villanova and nine more than its average.
- Penn State shot perfect from the free throw line until the last minute of the game and finished making 17-of-18.
- The Lady Lions outrebounded the Wildcats 40-32.
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